This was day one of Autumn session, the first three days were dedicated to open sessions for the smaller TransWorld lobby groups, everything from Education to biodiversity would be discussed and mandates refused or actioned.

The Committee was made up of United Nations experts on Interworld subjects such as Economics, Colonisation, Demographics and so on, he was there on behalf of UniForce, UNICs military force, it also counted advisors from Infinity Incorporated.

Abrahams was a severe looking black woman in her late thirties, she eyed the Commission with steely eyes and looked at its chairwoman Santine Ezquerra, the Spanish Counsellor returned the look. “Members of the Committee I would like to open the point regarding the Classification of Worldline Designation Rex-1 as R4 and open for commercial exploitation.

Foote took a long draw on his water and refilled his glass, Colonial representative Hedikt Viger responded “Miss Abrahams please state your concerns!”
“Quite simply The Terra Preservation Society requests that Rex-1 be designated a Conservation Worldline and commercial interests be withdrawn!”
Viger continued “The reasons for this request to UNIC Miss Abrahams?”
“The main reason is the grotesque exploitation of native saurians for the sole purpose of supplying Homeline health and beauty markets, we are led to understand that advanced technologies have been authorised for testing on Rex-1, technologies which could irrevocably damage the eco-system and potentially damage proto-mammal development!”

Viger looked toward Anthony Gruesh Scientific liaison for Infinity Inc, he smiled like a shark sizing up how big a bite he would take out of Abrahams.
“Miss Abrahams, the farming of native Saurians has been reviewed and endorsed by the TransWorld Wildlife Federation, the Tyrannosaurus Alpha population has undergone a population explosion within the last four years, seriously endangering a large number of indigenous populations.
Out farming activities operate within defined and regulated quotas and will serve to give other species, including possible proto-mammals a fighting chance”
“Mr Gruesh you know that’s Corporate spin, pure and simple!”
“If I might continue, we have 117 Biotech patents all showing potential for cellular and cerebral restoration and even regeneration originating from the unique saurian and indigenous flora hormones” he added, his smile nothing short of infuriating
Abrahams face darkened “Mr Gruesh you know as well as I do that Homeline Biotech consortiums already have numerous data on those medical patents from other Worldlines, nothing new is being brought out from Rex-1, apart from the multimillion dollar supply of hormones and mineral compounds to Revlon, Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent!”
Gruesh’s eyes hardened “Miss Abrahams let us be clear there is no vaulted Prime Directive and your suggestion of damaging future humanoid development is in no way substantiated by any meaningful data, next you’ll be suggesting that we stop all TransWorld commerce which would bring famine and poverty to millions of Homeline inhabitants!”

Chairwoman Ezquerra interjected quickly “Miss Abrahams your concerns for Conservational protection on Rex-1 are duly noted, thank you for your submission!”
“Madame Chairman I haven’t noted my concerns for the use of advanced technology!”
“I believe you have and we have a tight schedule, your concerns have been noted!”
Foote noted that Abrahams conceded defeat, she had brass balls but was wise enough to not push Ezquerra too far, powerful lady with formidable connections.
She stood nodded her head and strode back to her seat in the gallery.

Infinity Prime – Corporate Headquarters – Chicago, Homeline.
Upon the 87th Floor an Arrival alert chimed within Stewart Arving’s email, he frowned in confusion he wasn’t expecting this particular arrival for two or three days at least.
That usually meant something was untoward and immediately paged the arrival through the Towers mainframe, ten minutes later Inspector Susan Wallace stormed into Arving’s office.

He looked at her until she relented “What the hell’s going on, sending an auditor after Black has someone really gone off the deep end this time!”
Penny dropped, “And that brought you across on a premium aligned jump!” he noted sternly
Wallace’s face was equally harsh, however despite his somewhat short, pudgy, bald exterior Arving was no push over, as a Section Chief within The Department of Corporate Oversight and mentor to Wallace he couldn’t afford to be.

He pointed to the plush Captains chair furnished in red leather, Wallace glowered but sat never the less, he waited.
“The Go/No Go!” he flicked his Newtons Cadle paying it his full attention
Wallace snarled inwardly, she had to admit Arving was as good at this game as she, if not better
“Proceeding well, corporate governance to complete!” she relented
“Just the little detail of corporate governance” his eyebrows raised
It was her turn to raise a pointed eyebrow
“Okay” he soothed “So finance are on Black’s case he’s a grown up, what’s the problem?”
“Firstly why are finance still on this, there are I-cops in Johnsons Rome blowing 5 times what Black spent, plus he doesn’t draw a company cheque we probably owe him”
Arving stood strolling over to the window and surveying the bustling cityscape far below him, satisfied he’d centred himself, he made his way to his drinks dispenser, pouring them both an orange juice.
“Let’s get some perspective, Black does draw a pay cheque, undoubtedly he squirrels it away”
“Okay, I thought this was buried, why’s that bastard Hector still on the case!”
“Susan for such a normally shrewd operator your being surprisingly thick headed, the answer is because they damned well want too, Blacks report indicated that this visitor and Miss Garrett vanished in the Australian bush, bearing in mind Commercial Finance are still smarting from the Chronicle telling them to go fuck themselves”
“So they decide to turn on one of their own, he didn’t spend any money, Garrett was the one who went on the bender and blew her expenses”

Arving took a deep breath “Hectors boss has a lot of clout, she isn’t happy to let the matter drop until they’ve spoken to Black, who has also vanished, not helping matters are they!”
He looked at her expectantly
She sighed “I've no idea, he’s on leave”
“As I thought, so they've sent an auditor to find and question him”
“The report says this guy’s got no field experience and they've sent him to question Black, a dozen shrinks still have serious frustration anxiety from trying to prize blood from a stone” she swept her arms out in exasperation to emphasis the point
“He has special talents and undoubtedly will learn very quickly!” Arving replied
“Nice to see finance looking out for their people” she retorted icily
“Now Susan back to business your too leave well alone, let Black sort it out himself” his tone had changed, hardened, Susan Wallace found that as usual she hated her boss, he had an insufferable ability to diffuse her and switch her corporate head back on, incredibly vexing

As she downed her juice, stood and moved to the door she turned, a menacing look crossed her brow “How’s the pets” she asked
Arving didn't look up “Fine thank you”
Both knew that she referred to Arvings somewhat elicit collections of creatures from the Menagerie World line, she straightened and made her way back to the elevators and ultimately back to the Conveyors.

The Donut Hole (The Bering Sea International Airspace), Elevation of 40’000 feet - Fall 2027
“Wind Speed has now reached 53 Knots
This raises the Small Craft warning to Critical.
Gale Force has now been reached.
Be careful out there!”

White spray obscured the ocean below, the clouds were churning and streaked with grey, vapour formed a white sheet across the sky.
Any normal aircraft would be thrown around horribly, or pitched into the sea, however the craft Michel Rose and Sally Farmer were piloting was anything but normal, in fact it was at least a half a century ahead of current technology.

“Alaskan Weather Centre sounds happy” said Rose, as he ran his fingers across a touch screen to his right, sat to his rear Pilot Officer Farmer chuckled as she monitored her console, barometric readings swirled.

The contra-gravity vertol they flew remained steady as a rock within the gale force winds, however it was not all going smoothly
“This isn’t great, cloak is throwing a fit!” said Rose
“Anything?”
“Nothing” said Farmer “Beacon signals been dead since they left Klawock!”
“I’m taking her down for a closer look” he replied
“What about the cloak?”
“We’ll be quick, if we can eyeball then this isn’t a complete waste of time!”

United Nationals Inter-World Counsel – Homeworld Accords 2007Definition: A series of UNIC Charters to control and legislate the import of Out-World Culture, Wealth (mineral, commodity or fiscal), technological advances, wildlife and weaponry.
The purpose of the Charters is in no way to limit Social, technological or welfare improvements they are to protect Homeworld Social and Cultural development through the managed introduction of positive Out-World influences.
They are also to serve the purpose of protecting the World Economy from Super-inflation and corresponding market devaluation caused by a saturation of Out-World Wealth.

Office of Corporate Affairs - UNIC United Nations Building – New York City
Officer Colin Mandala rubbed his eyes, he had thought that UN Commissioner would at least keep office hours, however he found himself having cleared security approaching the lift to the UNIC floors at an ungodly 4.43 in the morning.
Either they had revised their hours or the proverbial was hitting the fan.

His aid caught him up and handed him a super large latte, just as the elevator doors opened.
***

“Mr Mandala can you explain this?” requested UNIC Security Commissioner Konrad Zminiski sharply, the office was a power place immaculate white walls adorned with expensive reproduction art, Deitrich Rams classic furniture each piece in the thousands, a solid polished oak desk and a view of Manhattan.

Mandala leaned forwards in his exquisite mock regency chair, taking in a blurred photograph which appeared to have been taken from the bridge of a ship in stormy seas.
“Without being impertinent Commissioner it looks like a smudge on a camera!” he replied
The Commissioners aide a small, thin but severe looking man passed across another photograph taken from a wallet, this was a satellite picture still murky but the slightly boxy shape of an aircraft could be made out, vaguely.

“I’m a little at a loss” Commissioner he replied
“The Corporate Investigator claims that they caught glimpses of a strange aircraft seemingly unaffected by gale force winds” Zminiski gave Mandala a hard look, for his part Mandala didn’t reply.
The aide leaned forwards “UFO theories aside Mr Mandala, our technical advisors have suggested that this sounds suspiciously like a Contra-gravity vehicle operating at low altitude!”
As tired as he was Mandala decided he would bite and get the proceedings over with
“Your suggesting that Infinity is using contra-grave aircraft outside of UNIC agreement?”
Zminiski glowered “Yes Mr Mandala that’s exactly what UNIC currently thinks, does Infinity think itself above the Homeworld Charter!”

“No Mr Zminiski” he dropped the Commissioner title “Infinity doesn’t think that, largely in part because of the resources, personnel and money we throw at protecting the secret, what’s more I’m sure you’ll agree that the I-cops have filed numerous reports detailing the consequences of undue technological and economic disasters on Worldlines”
“So your saying this isn’t your bird!” shot the aide
“To the best of my knowledge that isn’t an Infinity aircraft, and with all due respect gentlemen neither image is particularly clear!”
The Commissioner seemed to mentally chew this over, “Very well Mr Mandala that will be all!”
Mandala frowned “Gentlemen with all due respect was it entirely necessary to drag me in here at this time for this!”
The aide gave him a cold look “Yes Mr Mandala UNIC takes its responsibilities very seriously and they don’t wait for convenient times, good day!”
‘Prick’ thought Mandala, power games the time was the whole point, they suspected Infinity of running ultratech, couldn’t prove it but could make a point.
Mandala shook his head, straightened his suit and walked out of the room.
***

His assistant stepped in with him he shook his head as she started to speak, waiting until they were well underway in their car before speaking.

As she drove he dialled his contact “What the hell happened, he said as Major Farnham appeared onscreen”
“Morning to you as well” the Major responded
“Corporate Investigator got hold of some pictures of a contra-grav Vertol over the Bering Sea”
“Thought that might be an issue” replied the Major
“You thought that might be an issue and didn’t think to mention it”
“Crews flight reports indicated that the Cloak was malfunctioning”
“That’s okay then, because its only UNIC who’ve got hold of it”
“Look Colin it’s a risk, we had a priority and had to launch, nothing else could have done the sweep in those conditions”
“I think your missing the point James, we’re not meant to be flying that level of tech period!”
“Come on Col get with the program, when the shit hits the fan we’re the ones who’ll have to deal with it, that means we need the edge, if we don’t train our people on how to use this tech then we might as well shut down the Conveyers and the Stiffs in UNIC can say goodbye to the clean fuel powering their homes and their megabucks salaries, you think Centrum are too afraid to use ultratech”
Mandala fell silent “Well in that case we need to shut this damn paper down, it’s on our case and UNIC just gained another source to get all frosty with us!”
“I’ll leave that in your capable hands” replied Farnham, with that he hung up
The problem was Mandala thought shutting down or silencing a National publication wouldn’t be easy!

It was Immigration Representative Margaret Farielle who answered this session, Mrs Vertigan I’ve had the opportunity to review your submission last month, however I would like to hear in your words why we should discuss your request.

“Of course thank you madam Farielle, quite simply ladies and gentlemen of the Committee the Monat are a Neanderthal variant on the Monat Worldline current Infinity Classification Z2.
The Monat are being hunted to extinction by a highly motivated Apex Predator, along with a number of proto-human species they have been eradicated from every landmass with the exception of Australia-New Guinea continent“

“We estimate that within a relatively short period of time these predators will bridge the oceanic gap and complete the extinction of the Monat, with this in mind we request that a Resettlement exercise be completed to evacuate the remaining inhabitants to another Worldline?”

Margaret Farrielle frowned “As sympathetic to your cause and the Miracle Workers work as I am Mrs Vertigan, your numbers are somewhat amiss, firstly we cannot and will not evacuate every human population under threat, we have numerous Hell Parallels which would be far higher on the list!”
“Secondly we’re talking about quarter of a million inhabitants, the logistics involved are far beyond anything we can remotely resource!”

“Mrs Farrielle the Monat are a unique human species, surely we must act to protect them from extinction”

“Mrs Vertigan you must demonstrate your facts more transparently, recent Genealogy studies have indicated that the Monat are probably not evolved from Simian stock, more likely from early Mustelidae similar to prehistoric Badgers!” interjected Professor Anjo Cabretti UNIC Anthropologist and Geneticist

Vertigan frowned “They are still sentient beings Professor, in the same way as Elves and Troondon!”
For the first time in two days of sessions Colonel Brian Foote cleared his throat and spoke
“Mrs Vertigan I’m more interested in how the Miracle Workers have gained entry to a Z2 Worldline?” silence descended across the chamber
He continued “I agree with your assessment Monat is home to some highly motivated predators and the whole Worldline displays disturbing anomalies” he looked across to the Infinity Inc Security representative Major James Buchannan questioningly

Vertigan replied before the Infinity man had chance “The Worldline was originally designated Z3 which allowed access to all Infinity personnel
“Including The Miracle Workers” replied Foote
“We are the non-profit arm of Infinity, but still Infinity Inc”
Foote looked again at Buchanan “Irrespective I feel particularly uncomfortable with the notion of civilians traipsing around a dangerous Z2”
“I’m inclined to agree, hence the reclassification” said Buchanan
“Which means that this migration your suggesting Mrs Vertigan would therefore be a military operation, which neither UNIC nor Infinity has spare resource for!”

“What if the predators weren’t native to the Worldline” said Vertigan
“What?” replied Foote
“We have reason to believe the Apex Predators have not been native to Monat for more than a Century”
“Mrs Vertigan, your team was on the ground for barely 6 months how would they have substantiated this wild claim” said Buchanan icily
“Genetic tests, the gene structure of the creatures is radically different from Monats native biosystem suggesting introduction from elsewhere!” she replied
“Introduced is a strong word Mrs Vertigan” added Buchanan
“You know as well as I do Mr Buchanan that Monat shows evidence of having been hit by a Banestorm in the past!” Buchanan fell silent
Foote responded “Never the less, we have other Worldline populations under assault from invading forces and neither the mandate or resource to migrate them all!”

Representative Farrielle interrupted “May I suggest in the interim of understanding the complexities of Monat and its potential invasion, we could Resettle ten family units”
“Madam Farielle we’re not sure how or if the Monat could co-exist alongside humans” cautioned Buchanan
“We have several non-sentient prehistoric Worldlines, that would accept this number”

As was almost customary Chairwoman Ezquerra interjected “Motion carried, we recommend that Madam Farrielles Resettlement of 10 Monat family units be undertaken within three months, Major Buchanan I trust Infinity will review the potential of Parachronic migration or introduction of the Apex predators”
“Yes m’am” he replied
Tracy Vertigan’s merely smiled

He had received a call from an old acquaintance barely 10 minutes later.

It was a while since the Zero’s driver had raced through night dark streets, Harry Goodnight solemnly listened to the police band, making a conscious effort not to look upon his passenger.
Units on scene: “Possible 187”
Dispatch: “Paramedics 10-17”

Harry cut across an intersection and swung into Monroe Avenue, now blocked by police cruisers and black sedans, red and blue lights illuminating each row of townhouses, officers milling around and CSI disembarking from they’re van.

Taking a deep breath Harry stepped out of the Lincoln, looking for the liason, as he did Susan Wallace exited from the front passenger seat, straightened her business suit and swept any trace of emotion from her tired face.

Harry banished the notion of checking whether she wanted to do this or trying to persuade her not too!
He blinked back to reality as she took off, flashing her badge to the crime scene cordons cops and headed at a march for an figure dressed in a Chicago PD uniform with the addition of cobalt blue shoulder pads.

152A Monroe Avenue – Downtown Chicago - Homeline
The evening was relatively warm for March, which made standing in full patrol dress sweaty work, Delores Eustace Campbell watched the growing throng of people around the cordon and occasionally gave one of the beat cops a kick in the right direction.

Delores was an Oversight liaison officer between Infinity Inc and the Chicago PD, her day to day job was that of a cop, but anything the PD came across that looked remotely Transworld was referred to her colleagues and herself.

They acted as a filter what was a local crime and what was a Transworld crime that needed to be handed over to the I-Cops, the reality was far more complicated, jurisdictional arguments, Homeline perps fencing Transworld goods and so on, the line was a very blurry one.

One thing was certain without Delores and the OL Officers things would be an even bigger headache, which was why she raised an eyebrow and squared her shoulders when she spotted Susan Wallace marching past the cordon and straight for her.

Delores stepped in front of the blonde woman as she tried to bypass her
“Uh Uh” she said eyeballing Wallace
“Delores get out of my way!” she hissed
“Miss Wallace you ain't got no place being here” she replied sternly
By this time Harry had menaced the cordon cop sufficiently to catch up
“Hi D” he smiled at her
“Harry” she replied pleasantly
A standoff ensured with Wallace glaring at Delore’s, who in response leaned in closer
“You can stare all you want missy don’t change a thing”
“D can you tell us what’s the situation” interjected Harry
“We got a body Homicide and CSI are goin over the apartment now”
“Arvings apartment” replied Harry
“Yes” replied Delores simply
“The body is it Arving?” continued Harry
“Don’t know yet, they haven’t radio’d down”
“Who’s the liaison on scene” asked Wallace finally breaking the glare
“Detective Colson” replied Delores
Wallace tutted and once again awkward silence ensued
“Susan go grab a coffee!” said Harry, Wallace went to snap but caught the warning look in his eyes, she turned and strode off towards the mobile command unit.
Harry waited until she reached it and turned back to Delores “Before you start Harry Goodnight you don’t get no slack from officer Delore’s E Campbell”
“Hows your aim D?” he responded
Delores shook her head in annoyance looking the taller man in the eye “That’s a low stunt Harry!”
“Got you through your exam didn't it”
“Harry look we’re all close to Stu, but she’s the last person who should go up there”
Harry considered this for a moment, he hadn't figured that Delores would have know Arving, but all of the OL officers would as they fell under the direction of the his Corporate Oversight office.
“D you know she’ll get up there one way or the other, even if she has to call Van Zeldt himself, I’d prefer the least dramatic route, come on”

Delores shook her head, she clearly wasn't anywhere near happy with the situation
“Okay, but on her head be it, with her psyche profile she shouldn't be within ten blocks” she snapped angrily
Harry thought about responding but a small part of him agreed, he patted D on the shoulder and moved past her beckoning Susan Wallace to follow him.

152A Monroe Avenue – Downtown Chicago – Homeline
Stewart Arving had never been a great socialiser, however a rare exception was his daughters graduation a couple of years previously.
This had been the only time Susan had visited her mentors apartment and as it turned out she’d only seen half of the place, his wife having passed a good decade ago and his daughter pursuing a career in Pittsburgh, he’d lived here alone.

Alone apart from his animals, as gruff as he was with people Arving had possessed endless patience and interest in the wild kingdom.
His collection of animals was office legend, including the creatures he’d discreetly collected from other Worldlines, as she walked among the cops and CSI she took in the depth of his life.

The apartment dominated the entire upper two floors of the brownstone townhouse, the living area she’d seen had ended with a partition wall that was now opened to reveal an almost solarium like space.
The walls were a sunflower yellow, adorned with numerous environmental control panels, inset within these walls were elaborate tanks containing all manner of strange creatures, hidden within their habitats.
Looking down the top floor that the apartment occupied was a mezzanine level to the floor below, where even greater tanks were situated, Wallace looked up taking in a crafted rectangular wooden frame that was suspended from the high roof.
Vines and ivy entwined the frame and again various arboreal creatures peered down at the invading human horde, some were recognizable primates others entirely alien.

Detective Aaron Colson reviewed the different data feeding through the temporary CSI hotspot, certain areas of the apartment and solarium were now cordoned, particularly the main floor below.
Wallace shut down any emotion or gag reflex as she looked over the mezzanine floors barrier, down at the horrific mass of red pulpy gore below.

Colson looked up and frowned ‘Wallace’ he sighed as if he didn't have enough to do already, he squared his shoulders and advanced “Wallace” he said
Susan Wallace turned from regarding the pretty horrific scene below “Colson, findings so far?” she requested icily
“None of your concern Inspector Wallace!”
A hostile smile crossed Wallace’s face, her eyes hardened
“Still making life difficult for yourself Aaron” interrupted Goodnight who had made his way through to the mezzanine after looking over the apartment
Colson ignored Wallace’s gaze boring holes into his head “Harry” he looked imploring at the academy man, the older man winked at Susan before taking Colson to one side
“Playing peacemaker Harry”
“No saving you some time Aaron, digging your heels in won’t get you very far”
“Harry, she shouldn't be up here!” Colson hissed quietly
The older man leaned closer “Aaron it might have escaped your notice but the Corporate Oversight Office runs your department, Susan Wallace is a corporate inspector and ranking I-Cop, which means she outranks you!”
“Harry cut me some slack, I’m trying to look out for her, her boss and mentors well” he nodded with his head “I don’t know the detail of Calico but I heard it was pretty twisted and she’s on a psyche report, now she’s trampling around a crime scene!”

“When you two have finished having a cuddle” Wallace cut in
Colson frowned and Harry sighed “What is that!” she continued pointing to the large immobile creature laid near the bloody mass
Colson seemed to relent “We think it was the murderer, it was prowling around when we entered, jumped the cops and they had to put it down”
Wallace looked at it with a renewed investigative interest, the creature although doubled over resembled some huge misshapen bat, although one that had no useful wings, what it did however were a large number of incredibly long finger linked appendages each tipped with a large curved black claw.

“Have the DNA scanned confirmed that that’s Arving?” she asked robotically
Harry snapped his attention back, he’d missed the change, the mental shift where Susan went to clinical, Colson fortunately glanced at him before responding and received raised eyebrows in way of warning.
“CSI are running them now” he replied, Wallace’s attention swept down to the white suited figures below, each examining various pieces of ultratech forensic scanners, she turned taking in some of the inhabitants within the tanks.
Most were unbelievable as if some alien ark had landed in Arving’s apartment, long slithering monsters with hundreds of legs, segmented bodies and multiple mouths, brachial cat like creatures, jelly fish like life forms floating in the air and many more.
Her gaze then swept across the features of the huge solarium, now absorbing details, without a word she marched back to the stairs which took her from the zoo into his home, a strange transition literally entering a new building.

She completed a circuit of the apartment, nodded wordlessly to Colson and with Harry following she left as abruptly as she’d entered.

Infinity Training Facility – Brolingbrook, Illinois
The facility was situated in the countryside on the north edge of Brolingbrook, the hour early.
She had been allocated a quiet office overlooking a paddock, a number of statuesque thoroughbreds frolicked in the morning sunshine.

The office was small and cozy, a rough and ready affair more at home in a forest rangers station, largely wood, older pictures and photographs adorning the walls.
A far cry from the gleaming walls of corporate offices, in younger days she would have despised such a place but now she understood why Harry worked here, only essential technology, fresh air, a lack of complication.

Wallace looked across the myriad of photographs, reports, documents and scraps of paper, this was in addition to two screens frozen with information, she’d spent the past two days pondering it all.
The investigation into Arving’s death was still in full swing, however everything she’d seen was leading toward death by misadventure, his keeping of illicit Trans-world animals gone bad, when one had broken loose.

Perhaps it was just her stubbornness that refused to accept that one of the most thoughtful, careful people she knew could die in such a fashion, something just didn't add up.
The inevitable confrontation with Arving’s daughter Steff had occurred the previous day, in fact Wallace had engineered it, his daughter wanted to vent her anger and Wallace decided it would be on her own terms.

It had be as predictable as ever, accusations of undermining her relationship with her father, stormy outbursts at his favoring Wallace, yes far better to meet the challenge head on and not have lost her cool, damn that sounded worryingly like Black.
For her part she had quietly listened and commented little, her opinion of Stephanie Arving was irrelevant to the investigation, the fact that she considered Steff a waste of time and ungrateful bitch was inconsequential.

Her thoughts that Arving had done an outstanding job of bringing the brat up when her mother had walked out on them, put her through college and even set up a business for her, played through her mind, not that Steff would show any gratitude.
The temper had come from a mixture of grief and self preservation, Stuart Arving had been a mentor to many people, she guessed that his only blood relative was now concerned her old man might have left his projects something from his estate, like that wouldn't be fiercely contested in court.

She’d gone into autopilot having stood, crossed the office and poured herself a coffee, her attention returned to the evidence pile, her initial delving had revealed little other than his surreptitious purchasing of exotic creatures and the equipment needed to house them.
However one linked fact did stand out, not only had he purchased creatures he had also invested quite a tidy sum in the Genetic Conservation Foundation, the GCF was one of the non-profit organisations licensed and funded by Infinity Inc.

He had no hope of seeing a return but that didn’t appear to be Arving’s motivation, instead his funds granted his access to species study data and reports from the worldline of Menagerie.

Manhattan, New York – Homeline
A layer of snow covered Third Avenue, watery slush lining the gutters, heavy midday traffic spraying the throng of shoppers hurrying from shop to shop the winter cold failing to dissuade them.
Among the crowds strode Susan Wallace, flicking snow off her boots she turned into the entrance of Bloomingdales.
“Subject is moving again” murmured a fashionably dressed younger man who wove through the crowds, “Great” replied his partner sat patiently in the limited parking spaces on Third Avenue.

“Join the I-Cops see new worlds”, he muttered to himself “Instead we get to follow a senior Infinity officer for no particularly good reason” he swilled his takeaway latte to try and revive it.
The officer on foot darted through the shoppers keeping his quarry in sight, she was marching along the central aisle between the various fragrance counters.

Susan Wallace smiled at an expensively dressed lady who coincidently wore a matching pair of Versace sunglasses, the shadow weaved the crowd growing thick straining to keep his quarry in view.

The two women passed, a quick flurry of arms took place, before each continued their path, the Officer glanced at the expensively dressed woman with bobbed black hair and sunglasses as she passed him. Something nagged at him but spying the blond head of Inspector Wallace he quickened his pace pushing through the shoppers.

Even the floor was rather disconcertingly glass, although mirrored to prevent the offices below looking up, David Fareira however could look down upon the workers below.
At 09.47 his attention was fixed on the sci-fi made real holographic projection of HID Agent Bruch, the rendering of the holo-communication was so accurate he could see the man’s sweat.

“How exactly did you lose her?” he asked with quiet menace
“She did a switch on us sir” came the resigned response
“I’m not an idiot Bruch I can think of any number of ways in which she has eluded two highly trained Homeline Internal Defence agents, the question was rhetorical”
“Sorry sir”
Fareira cut the feed in frustration “Idiots” he hissed before turning to the figure of Tom Rydale, Chief Operations Officer of Corporate Oversight
“You shouldn’t be quite so hard on them Dave, she is very good” the other man observed in his silky smooth voice
“Their meant to be very good Tom, that’s why we assigned it to them, plus she’s a suit”
“A suit trained as a Special Operations Officer, Field trained and then business mentored by Arving”
Fareira turned and looked out the window, Ryland continued “She’s almost certainly offworld by now”
“Tom whats the buzz with this one?”
“What do you mean” replied Ryland carefully
“Well unless there’s OMD regarding Arving’s untimely death why the focus on Wallace, at the very least we're at risk of compromising my agents working inside Overwatch”
Fareira turned back to eyeball Ryland
“Look truthfully I’m not aware of any moves on Arving, he was highly respected, motivated and on the rise, a tragic accident so no his death wasn’t down to corporate power games”
“So whats the gig, let Wallace expend her energy, burn it out, the bitches borderline psychotic as it is, she’ll breakdown any day, more of a concern for us than Overwatch”
“That’s the trouble Dave, we look after our own or at least bury our own, Arving let her have a very long leash, she’s party to more sensitive intel than we’d prefer and has a great many powerful friends”
“So she’s connected that can be severed”
“I’m not talking about political allies Dave I’m talking powerful friends, several of which we’re nervous about especially as we’re now realising that Arving was cultivating these friendships”
Faeira pursed his lips
“One of which has now gone missing and the Head of Audit would like to speak too”
“Ah that arshole, don’t say I didn’t warn you, fucking timebomb that one, you should have let me put him down when his wife shuffled off!”
“Yeah yeah yeah told you so’s are not helpful right now”
Faeira smiled “We’ll lock down the Projectors, she’ll turn up”
“Thanks Dave” responded Ryland as he lifted his overcoat from the coat rack and opened the office door

Ten minutes later as Tom Ryland walked across the car park he thought to himself “If only it were that easy!”